Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, sports, especially cricket, have come to an unprecedented standstill. Leagues have been postponed indefinitely, or in the worst cases, called off. Earlier this year, both the semi-finals and finals of the Pakistan Super League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league, were postponed. Later ‘The Hundred’, a dream project of England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was cancelled too. The ECB took a decision that inflicted losses on the players, as the contracts were terminated prematurely. Meanwhile, if the IPL goes through the same, then not only the players but the losses would also trickle down to concerned cricket boards. Heavy losses Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell of Australia along with Lasith Malinga, Chris Gayle and Kagiso Rabada, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Amir, Trent Boult, Sunil Narine and Rashid Khan, were included in the eight teams of the ‘The Hundred’ for 2.25 lakh pounds. But, amongst these players, Warner and Maxwell are supposed to be the biggest losers. The Australian duo plays in the IPL for the teams Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab respectively, and their contracts alone sum up to Rs 32.75 crore.
Andre Russell would forego Rs 7 crore from IPL while one lakh pounds for The Hundred league. Rashid Khan, Afghan leg-spinner, has a deal of Rs 9 crore with Sunrisers Hyderabad and his contract in the ‘The Hundred’ is worth one lakh pounds. After the termination of The Hundred’s contract, Eoin Morgan’s hopes remain high on IPL solely. The bidding value of Chris Gayle has attenuated over the years, but he has been registering his presence almost in every league. Pat Cummins, who has been included in IPL’s Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 15.5 crore, would also be affected if the IPL gets called off. This is the largest contract of any overseas player in the history of this league. Tom Benton, Moin Ali and Chris Lynn have a contract with IPL, The Hundred, and the PSL. Benton played for Peshawar Zalmi, Moin Ali for Multan Sultans, and Chris Lynn for Lahore Qalandar respectively.
The trio lost a considerable amount of money owing to the cancellation of the finals and the semi-finals of the league. Coaches have been caught up in the financial whirlpool too. In The Hundred league, Stephen Fleming, Mahela Jayawardene, Tom Moody, Shane Warne and Gary Kirsten are some of the worthy mentions. Uncertainty Prevails Whether to call off the leagues, uncertainty abounds amongst the management authorities of the Caribbean Premier League, Big Bash League, and the Bangladesh Premier League. Nevertheless, the amount of money that a senior player gets from the IPL alone, these leagues cannot match. The probable losses of the players are so huge that they are ready to play the games without any spectators at all.